NEW DELHI: Even as 70% of women in India have access to primary education, only 17% are entering a corporate career and a mere 3% make it to leadership roles, according to a study released on Tuesday.
A study by global management consulting firm Zinnov reveals that just 25% of women pursue graduation courses in the country. “There is a significant drop when it comes to enrolling for higher education, which lowers further till graduation, making grassroot initiatives critical to engage the larger community,” it says.
The report highlights that over 1,00,000 women in India have quit their corporate career in the last 5 years and only 2% of them have been reintegrated into the workforce.
“A significant number of women continue to drop out of corporate careers due to multiple life events like maternity, caregiving responsibilities, relocation, workplace barriers, lack of flexibility, role stagnation among others,” the report explains. Making a case for returnship programmes, the study says,
“Conventionally, companies have built their talent arsenal through campus recruitment, lateral hires, etc., underutilising a talent trump card — women on a career break. Zinnov believes structured returnship programmes, given the vast pool of 100,000+ qualified women on a career break, if reintegrated will be instrumental in combating this phenomenon.”
A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows even if companies build sustainable returnship programmes to reintegrate just 10% of this pool of talent, it can fulfil a significant portion of its current open job roles, it adds.
Nivedita Nanjappa, Head of I&D Practice, Zinnov, said, “Returnship programmes have a deep potential to scale... While some companies have done so to reasonable effect, there are just a few successful use cases.”